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Mosby Parsons
Mosby Monroe Parsons (May 21, 1822 – August 15, 1865) was a United States officer in the Mexican-American War and brigadier general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career The eldest child of Gustavus Adolphus Parsons and his wife Patience Monroe Bishop, Mosby M. Parsons was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. When he was 13, his parents moved to Cole County, Missouri. Two years later, they moved again to Jefferson City, which Parsons would thereafter make his home. As a young man, Mosby read law and was admitted to the bar in 1846. He served as a volunteer in the Mexican-American War with the rank of captain in Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan's regiment and was cited for gallantry at the Battle of Sacramento on February 28, 1847. Returning to Missouri after the war, he married Mary Wells on September 18, 1850. However, his wife died just three years later, leaving him with an infant son, Stephen Kearney Parsons. Parsons served as the United States District Attorney for western Missouri. In 1856 was elected to the state legislature. He became a state senator in 1858, serving until the Civil War began in early 1861. Civil War During the secession crisis in Missouri, Parsons was appointed brigadier general in command of the Sixth Division of the Missouri State Guard. He arrived too late to participate in the skirmish at Boonville, but he went on to lead his division at Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri, as well as the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. Parsons was commissioned a brigadier general of the Confederacy on November 5, 1862 and led his infantry brigade in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas one month later. His force would participate in the attack at Helena, Arkansas on July 4, 1863, and assisted Richard Taylor in thwarting Union Major General Nathaniel Banks' Red River Campaign of 1864 in Louisiana, as well as opposing Union Major General Frederick Steele's Camden Expedition in Arkansas. Parsons was appointed a major general by Trans-Mississippi Departmental Commander Kirby Smith on April 30, 1864, although his promotion was never confirmed by Jefferson Davis. Post-war death After the war's end, Parsons, like many other Missouri Confederates, chose to go to Mexico rather than surrender. He and five companions, including former Confederate Congressman Aaron H. Conrow, were captured and executed by bandits near Camargo, Chihuahua, on August 15, 1865. He is said to be buried in Nuevo Leon, although no one knows precisely where, or even if he was buried at all. References * Warner, Ezra;Generals in Gray, Lives of the Confederate Commanders Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8071-0823-5. * Hinze, David; Farnham, Karen, The Battle of Carthage, Border War in Southwest Missouri, July 5, 1861. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-58980-223-3. External links *Obituaries of Parsons and his family *Mosby Monroe Parsons Papers Missouri History Museum Archives Category:1822 births Category:1865 deaths Category:Confederate States Army generals Category:People of Missouri in the American Civil War Category:People murdered in Mexico Category:Missouri State Guard Category:Members of the Missouri House of Representatives Category:Missouri State Senators fi:Mosby Parsons